Chapter 3

Investigative Snooping

A/N : Warning : Somewhat dull chapter. Well,it was either a timeskip or this. Excuse my flippant tone,haha,I have ideas but not at such an age. AKira is still...physically 5.

Figuring out everything in my own mind was a pain, honestly. Imagine that there were so much you could do, but only so much you could remember in your own head. Memorising a map of the orphanage was only easy because I've already spent much of my time in there.

Eventually,I settled on a simpler plan of action. Following one very well known rule called the KISS principle. It stood for 'Keep It Simple Stupid", and while abit crude in its use of language, there was a point in its words.

The more you simplify your plans, the easier it would be to precisely execute it with next to no flaws. That's how I understood it anyway. For now, I would sneak out every two nights to build up my stamina and speed, as well as to practice the running techniques shown in Eyeshield 21. Who knows if the techniques works at all? I was desperate at this point. Better something than nothing, even if it might break my body.

Of course, that wasen't the only thing I tried to learn. There would be police patrolling around the neighbourhood, as I discovered when I was walking back to the orhphanage one day. Thank my lucky stars they didn't notice me (or my ears. I heard more than saw them first.) So I added evasion training. I would do short dashes near the police and try to keep my said 'dashes' silenced. I made sure that wherever I was running at had lots of twists and turns, though. Easier to make them think it was a stray animal or a bee. Making sure they didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary by switching the patrol I would annoy for the night was fun,too. Would be more fun if I didn't know and planned this as training though.

But then again, if no one knew the shithole(read : orphanage) I was staying at neglects kids, could the police really be trusted? Or was it that it was hidden, even from the eyes of the local law enforcement? Were all orphanages always like this? Finding a girl with scruffy dirt like shirt and shorts that were torn would definately get me back to the orphanage and raise their alarm. The evidence would be quite evident too-a girl running around at night near an orphanage.

A thought for another day. No point in finding information on something that won't be useful to my survival.

Anymore other training would have to wait. Overtaxing my body would only lead to more exhaustion or deterioration of my already malnourished body. Another immediate plan of action I should take would be information snooping around the temporary area I'm stuck at, obviously. It would just be a bonus if I could figure out what was actually going on. That, and i'd have to maintain my cover. If I slept all day long, they would think my sleep cycle switched, because no one would sleep all day and not wake up at night. (Unless they were dead or sick. In which case, probably thrown out of the immediate vicinity and left to die. Some cases happened in front of my own eyes, but I don't have the time to feel for such things. Paticipating in the beatdowns administrated by others just gave me more reason to not care. ) Espescially not when food was distributed at daytime. It would keep me from falling asleep, Mainly since I would keep my mind preoccupied instead of just...flopping over due to no rest. Pinching myself everytime I felt tired helped, along with with various other creative means.

I increased the time I took to rest and dash in small seconds, every single night that I did them. I made sure that it stayed in my comfort zone, but also kept it right on the edge. I had to push myself without managing to overexert myself, because if I fell to exhaustion, I would be found and be carted back to the orphanage with heavy consequences that might lead to my death.

My nights of running mindlessly in one direction, with short dashes as dodging practices immediately after, slowly became a pattern to my life.

The hallways of my temporary residence were tinged a yellow hue,as I senselessly wandered around and kept my ears open for tidbits of information. Skirting around fights were trival matter to me, now. The nightly exercises had done me good.

There were numerous chatter in irritated,angry tones shrill to the ear, so I turned and slipped into a more isolated area,hopeful for a respite despite my exhaustion.

Loud noises while being sleep deprived just makes my head pound ceaselessly onto my brain,like nails hammering into wood,except my head was the wood and the nail was the shouts of many in combat.

My feet lead me towards the more well-kept rooms of the orphanage. More maintained, with less yellow stains on the walls like the rest of the residence,floor not as splintered in its wood-like tiles. Perhaps I could find more purchase,here? I started to pay more attention to the noise my feet made,slipping into the mindset I had for my nightly practices. Keep my breath slow, with quick actions.

A slightly opened door to my right. Was someone in there?

I admit,I was quite hesitant due to the risks involved. But it had to be done.

Slowing a bit to listen to the words inside,if there were any. I could feel my heatbeat thumping, restless of the what ifs and what could be.

"Has the payment came yet?"

"No sir,there was a delay in transport,so they wouldn't pay us till it is secured."

"Make sure there isn't anymore delay. Or the results shall be disastrous."

"Understood."

Two males-as far as I could tell,anyway. What transport? It was hushed,and quite clearly,there was a desperate undertone. 'Pay' could mean money,so what exactly were they transporting?

No words were exchanged after the following few sentences. Unable to glean anymore information, I resumed a slightly more faster pace,the hallway cameras still active. So long as they thought I just passed by,I shouldn't have drawn any attention.

If only I would be bold enough to sneak into the room at night,if only to see what gave an orphanage a need to transport anything...

Shoving the idea to a more obscure place in my mind,as it was too risky,I continued to gather more information by this method.

My local tomentor,whom I nicknamed "Bully No. 1",did a great service to my plan as a distraction. It was easy to provoke the guy to hit me without even words,and head off all suspicion of me having knowledge I shouldn't have. Convenient,no?

There were always stories that heightened the tension by involving the main character into deep turmoil. I refuse to let that ever happen to me,even as my actions seem cowardly.

Obviously,any main lead of a story would bother to go investigate. Not me. I was not a plaything for the gods,tugging me around like a loose puppet to see what I'd change.

Curiosity killed the cat-satisfaction brought it back. But the 'satisfaction' of this most certainly won't bring me back to life. I willed myself to let go of my thoughts. Choose wisely and you'll get what you want. Haste makes waste-I'll figure this out with time.

Time was on my side. Oh the irony.

Question : Can you figure out what akira meant by 'irony'?

3/3/18